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This was an unbelievably powerful experience for me; being that it was my first solo winter four thousand footer! I started hiking from the Lowe's Store parking lot at 05:40 with the headlamp on. Trail was broken nicely for the bottom third with one or two inches of fresh powder on top of that. When I got to the part where the trail crosses a high-tension power line clear cut, the wind had all but erased any signs of the trail and my headlamp wasn't powerful enough to illuminate the trail on the other side. That was a little tricky in the dark, but it wasn't long before I found it. Then it was easy going until about a quarter mile before the cabin. (Got to the cabin at 08:30.) Took off my gloves and they froze solid; resorted the mittens. From there to about tree line (the middle third of the hike) it is steep and all loose powder. I'm not going to lie; there was some swearing involved here. Unless you've got those great MSR snowshoes with the teeth all the way around, I'd avoid using snowshoes here. At one point, I slid about twenty feet down a steep section leaving my poles sticking out at my starting point. Towards the end of this section of steep powder, I removed my snowshoes and put on my Micro-Spikes. They seemed to work a good deal better for that section although I didn't make that decision as soon as I should have. As the trail broke out above tree line the snow got much deeper. So the snowshoes went back on. Because the Micro-Spikes are quite difficult to put on with cold hands, I opted to keep them on and just put on my snow shoes over them. This worked out great and made it easy to change from one to the other if I choose to do so. When I got above tree line I was shocked at how hidden the trail was. I couldn't tell the difference between a tree, a cairn or anything else for that matter. Everything was pure white and the trail was very difficult to make out a good deal of the time being covered in drifts and hard rime ice. It was incredibly beautiful, but intimidating at the same time. I used the snowshoes from tree line to the summit and back down. Kept looking back to make sure that I could still see my tracks and that the wind hadn't blown all signs of them away. The summit was intense! Winds were gusting to around 50mph and the wind chill was minus 30. I found a slightly protected area behind "something" that was covered in rime ice and sat down. (Got to the summit at 12:30.) After about ten minutes I started to make my way down. I glissaded the entire middle third of the trail which made the swearing worth it. Very fun, but be careful as I got going pretty fast at times. (Got back to the car at 15:30 - seven hours up and three hours down.) My friends think that I am crazy for doing things like this and for doing it alone as a woman. I found it to be an incredible empowering experience! The mountain challenged me mentally and physically to the fullest and then rewarded me with spectacular scenery and a sense of pride and accomplishment that makes me hungry for more.
